Season of New Leaves
by chaotic.souljam
Summary: Amidst the cascade of plum blossoms, Makoto falls in love. MakoHaru. Shounen-ai.


_Till people think them falling snow,_  
_Misting all the fields of spring,_  
_The plum blossoms fall._

_—Ta Makami_

* * *

It is the February of their first year in elementary school when the plum trees start to bloom. The wind nips at what little skin is exposed by his yukata, the last vestiges of winter still hanging low in the town of Iwatobi. The honeyed scent of the flowers hangs thick in the air, wrapping around him like a welcoming embrace.

The hand he holds is warm; the sleeve of his yukata covers their entwined hands, and Makoto smiles shyly at the boy who walks beside him. His wooden sandals clack rhythmically against the frosty ground with each step.

"The flowers are really pretty tonight, aren't they?"

"Aa," the soft reply comes. His head is turned away, gazing off in the direction of the sea.

_That's just like Haru-chan. Thinking of the sea even though we came to see the flowers._

Makoto lets out a quiet giggle. He doesn't really mind that Haru-chan seems more interested in swimming than flower-viewing; in fact, it would have been weird otherwise. Haru-chan belongs in the water.

_Like a dolphin._

Still, it would be nice if Haru-chan looks up at the plum trees once in a while because it really is a sight to see, the blossoms fluttering in the breeze, falling delicately like little snowflakes. It's breathtaking, almost as beautiful as Haru-chan in water.

A plum blossom drifts down onto dark raven locks. He doesn't seem to notice.

"Haru-chan," Makoto calls.

He leans in close and brushes the flower off gently. He smiles at the almost imperceptible widening of Haru-chan's eyes. He likes Haru-chan's eyes the most—not just because they're as blue as the ocean during summer, but because he feels like he can understand Haru-chan a little more by looking into those bright blue eyes.

A large crowd forming near the tallest plum tree catches their attention. Makoto pulls at Haru-chan, curious about the commotion. The tug almost yanks Haru-chan's shirt off one shoulder so Makoto tries to temper his excitement a little bit.

But Makoto isn't really adept at reining in his enthusiasm so he eventually stumbles forward in his haste, and he would have fallen flat on his face if not for Haru-chan's quick reflexes. Makoto smiles sheepishly at the silent admonishment on Haru-chan's face.

"Thank you, Haru-chan."

They reach the crowd too late; they can hardly see anything from behind all the adults around. Disappointment curves his mouth down. He sees Haru-chan glance sideways at him. He tries to mask his disappointment, a suggestion to go somewhere else already forming on the tip of his tongue. But it seems Haru-chan is having none of that.

"Let's go, Makoto."

"Eh?"

Haru-chan grips his hand tighter and dives into the throng of people with Makoto in tow. He clears a path for the both of them until they get a glimpse of the couple under the plum tree.

"Will you marry me?" a young man asks as he kneels before a blushing girl.

Everyone seems to be holding their breath, waiting for the girl's answer. Makoto looks around in confusion. It seems he's the only one who has absolutely no idea what is happening.

_Ah, Haru-chan should know. Haru-chan knows everything._

"Haru-chan," he whispers urgently. "What's happening?"

"He's asking her to marry him," Haru-chan states matter-of-factly.

"Marry? What's that?"

Haru-chan's answer is swallowed up by the loud cheers erupting from the crowd. The couple is flooded with congratulations from all sorts of people—from grandmas in their elaborate kimonos, from big men sharply dressed in suits, even from little girls with flowers trailing in their hair. The atmosphere suddenly feels a lot more like a festival, and Makoto decides that 'marry' must be some sort of festival he's never heard of before.

When the crowd disperses and only the two of them are left lingering by the plum tree, Makoto turns to Haru-chan with an eager smile.

"Haru-chan, let's marry too!"

"Dummy." Haru-chan tightens his fingers around Makoto's. "You only marry someone you really, really like. Grandma said so."

Makoto frowns in concentration. Even though Haru-chan is quiet most of the time, he's actually really nice; he lets Makoto hold his hand when he's scared or nervous or both and he stands up for Makoto whenever someone says mean things to him or teases him about his name. He even lets him borrow the Game Boy he had gotten for Christmas last year.

"Well, I really, really like Haru-chan so it's fine, right?" Makoto grins.

Haru-chan stays silent for a few moments. Makoto begins to think that maybe Haru-chan doesn't want to marry after all.

"I," Haru-chan starts, a subdued flush spreading slowly on his cheeks. He clears his throat and looks straight at Makoto. "I really, really like you too."

"Then we can marry?" Makoto bounces excitedly on the balls of his feet.

"Get married, yes" Haru-chan corrects him.

"Can we do it now? Can we, please, Haru-chan?"

A quick nod has Makoto grinning so widely his cheeks start to hurt. Haru-chan steps so close to him he can feel his breath warming his face.

"Grandma said, to get married, we have to promise to take care of each other forever," Haru-chan whispers solemnly. "Okay?"

"I promise," Makoto replies softly. "We'll be together forever, right, Haru-chan?"

"Yeah." Haru-chan touches his lips to Makoto's knuckles, and Makoto blushes because he's seen Papa do that to Mama sometimes when they think he isn't looking. "Forever."

Haru-chan drops his hand. Makoto feels oddly disappointed until Haru-chan cups his cheeks in his cold hands. Makoto shivers a little, but Haru-chan's fingers warm quickly against his flushed skin.

"Now, we kiss." Haru-chan presses his forehead against Makoto's, blue eyes gazing deep into his own. Makoto isn't sure what Haru-chan sees, but Haru-chan's face lights up with a tiny, barely-there smile.

"Kiss?"

"Like this."

Haru-chan leans forward and brushes his lips against his mouth. Makoto isn't sure what to do, but he trusts Haru-chan so he holds still and closes his eyes. It's nice, he thinks, but only because it's Haru-chan that's doing it. Makoto doesn't think he'd want to do this with anyone else.

_It's okay if it's Haru-chan._

Haru-chan pulls away, then turns his head to the side. Makoto reads the embarrassment in his actions and smiles.

Haru-chan clears his throat, and his usual calm settles back onto his face. "We're supposed to wear rings to show that we're married, but—"

"Oh, like how dogs wear collars?"

That makes sense; dog collars is for dogs with owners, so rings must be for people who are married.

"It's kind of similar to that, I guess," Haru-chan's previous embarrassment makes way for amusement.

"Eh?! I don't think I want to wear a collar," Makoto whines.

"Grandma told me she thinks the ring is a symbol of the promise we made," Haru-chan explains. A sly look fills his eyes. "But if you don't want it—"

"In that case, I want it!" The words tumble out of his mouth in a hurry. "You should have said that earlier, Haru-chan!"

Makoto can tell that Haru-chan is silently laughing at him. He pouts and crosses his arms, but the soft happiness in Haru-chan's blue eyes erodes his determination to stay mad, washing it away like the way the ocean slowly turns rocks into sand and carries it away.

"I don't have a ring right now, but I'll get you one tomorrow," Haru-chan promises.

"Okay."

They stand under the plum tree as it rains flower petals, and Makoto thinks that he will never forget the sweet scent of plum blossoms for as long as he lives. Pink, purple, white snowflakes float around them. The blooming of the plum trees heralds the arrival of spring, the season of new leaves, new beginnings.

Getting married isn't as festive as he had initially thought, but the warm feeling in his chest is kind of like the fuzzy warmth he gets after eating cotton candy during the summer festival, so he supposes it really is like a festival after all.

"Let's go, Makoto," Haru-chan says for the second time that night. He holds out his hand, and Makoto takes it without hesitation.

The night ends with a promise whispered into the swaying branches.

* * *

The next day, Haru-chan wins them both matching plastic rings from the arcade. Makoto gladly wears it, shows it off to his parents who just chuckle when he tells them he's married to Haru-chan now.

Every morning, Makoto waves at Haru-chan with the hand that wears the ring, and smiles when he glimpses the flash of orange plastic on Haru-chan's finger.

Just before they graduate from elementary school, just before Rin leaves for Australia, he learns from Nagisa what marriage really means. By then, the ring is too tight on his finger so he strings it up on a chain and wears it against his heart instead.

Every morning, from middle school until they enter high school, he tries to ignore Haru-chan's questioning gaze directed at his bare knuckles. Eventually, Haru-chan stops wearing his ring too, and Makoto pushes his disappointment to the back of his mind.

* * *

"Tachibana-senpai, please accept this!" A first-year girl thrusts a lunchbox and a small white envelope into his hands, her head bowed forward, a bright blush glowing on her cheeks.

Makoto fidgets uncomfortably. He hears Haru huff irritatedly beside him; he must be frustrated at the unforeseen delay to their daily lunch with Rei and Nagisa.

"S-sorry," he stammers. "I don't think I can take this."

Makoto gently pushes the items back towards the girl.

He braces himself for the girl's reaction; he has seen enough rejections that he knows there are only two possible outcomes—she'd either burst out in tears and run away, or declare that this isn't over and she isn't giving up.

"Why not? Is it because you're going out with someone else already?" The girl's earnest gaze bores into him.

"Well, no, but—"

"Then why, Tachibana-senpai?"

Makoto casts around helplessly for a distraction, but the stairway to the roof is as bare as always. He's never been good at confrontation and he knows that it's very possible he might end up just agreeing to date her if she keeps pushing him.

"Leave him alone," Haru's voice cuts through the silence. The gratitude Makoto feels at his intervention is cut short by the girl's aggravated squeak.

The girl glares at Haru with outraged brown eyes. To outsiders, it may seem that Haru isn't affected, but Makoto sees the tensed shoulders and clenched fists and knows that Haru is annoyed.

_Extremely annoyed._

"Nanase-senpai should mind his own business," the girl bites out.

Haru towers over the girl from the top of the stairs, but she refuses to back down. Makoto admires her fighting spirit, but at the same time, he pities her because he knows better than anyone how it feels to like someone who doesn't like you back.

"He can't go out with you," Haru persists, a frown furrowing his brow.

"Why not?"

"Because he's already married."

Makoto's heart thumps loudly in his chest, memories of plum blossoms and that serene, frosty night so many years ago clamouring for attention in his head. He remembers Haru-chan's soft smile, the warmth of his hands, the breath of the tall plum tree as it watched over them.

"Wha-What?!" The girl flounders for words, her eyes wide as saucers. She looks at Makoto, slack-jawed with shock.

Makoto doesn't know what to say, so he shrugs. He's too busy trying to process what Haru said, too busy trying to puzzle through the implications of Haru's simple statement.

_He still remembers._

"He's married to_ me._"

This time, Makoto can't mistake the smugness in Haru's tone. He feels like laughing then, both at himself and Haru, because between Haru's emotional awkwardness and Makoto's fear of changing what works so well for them, what should have been crystal clear had become muddied with unsaid feelings and frustrations. Now, Makoto watches the murkiness disappear, and he sees Haru clearly again for the first time in a long time.

"Sorry," Makoto directs his apology at the stuttering girl. He pulls out the chain around his neck and shows her the plastic ring, once bright but now faded with age. "That's how it is."

The girl stumbles away with a confused 'sorry for bothering you', looking over her shoulder one last time at Makoto. He smiles apologetically at her.

"So that's where you were keeping it."

"This?" Makoto looks down at the ring, then back up at Haru. "Yeah, it's too small for my hand now." He fiddles with the chain, trying to find the right words to express the jumble of emotions that had surfaced in his heart.

He chances another glance at Haru, trying to decide whether asking where Haru kept his is a good idea or not. In the end, he shouldn't have bothered with worrying, because Haru can read him just as well as he can read Haru.

"Mine is under my pillow," Haru mumbles, turning his head away in that classic Haru way that means he's a bit embarrassed about what he is saying. "I thought you didn't like it anymore, so I stopped wearing it. It no longer fits anyway."

Makoto's heart swells at Haru's confession; all this time, he had dismissed that promise under the plum tree as something that belonged in the past, a naive promise between children that held no sway now that they were almost grown-up.

Makoto boldly brushes Haru's fingers with his own, his cheeks reddening until it feels like he's going to explode.

"Forever?" He doesn't need to clarify, not really, because he knows that Haru would understand.

"Forever," Haru nods, fingers curling around Makoto's the way they did back then, only now, Makoto's hand dwarfs his own. Even so, the warmth is just like before, simple and beautiful in its own way.

"I'll buy you a new one," Haru decides. "A proper one."

Makoto opens his mouth to protest, to insist that he doesn't really need another one, but the determined set of Haru's mouth stops him.

_A ring that I can actually wear would be nice, I suppose_.

"Okay," Makoto says. "But only if I get you one too."

"Deal."

* * *

They end up getting a pair of simple titanium bands that are, according to the shop keeper, 'highly resistant to chlorine erosion'. Buying it eats up more than half his savings, but it's worth it, he thinks, when he catches Haru's blue eyes shining as he looks at Makoto's ring-adorned hand.

When Nagisa inevitably asks why they're wearing matching rings, Haru just rolls over and closes his eyes, leaving Makoto to explain. He fumbles through the speech he had prepared for that exact occasion, but thankfully Nagisa is not as dense as his appearance suggests.

"Ah, I was wondering when you'd buy new rings," Nagisa says with a wink.

Makoto sputters at that; he didn't know Nagisa had noticed the rings back in elementary school.

"Please, Mako-chan," Nagisa rolls his eyes. "Even Rin-chan knew about that!"

While Makoto is trying to wrap his head around the fact that he and Haru had apparently been _that_ obvious, Nagisa turns to Rei with a mischievous smile.

"So, Rei-chan," he starts, sidling up to Rei. "Wanna buy matching rings too?"

Makoto smiles at the ensuing chaos as the hyperactive blond pesters his usual bespectacled target. He feels a tug at the hem of his school shirt.

He turns to Haru, his smile softening at the sight of sleepy blue eyes peering up at him. Haru motions him closer, so he acquiesces and leans over Haru, resting his weight on his arm beside Haru's head. The grass tickles a bit, and Makoto absently wonders how Haru can sleep on grass so comfortably.

His thought process is cut short by chapped lips against his own. His eyes widen before he eases into the kiss. His proximity to Haru makes him forget that they are in public; being with Haru has the unique effect of making everything but him and Haru seem insubstantial and unimportant, at least for a few precious moments.

"No fair! I want a kiss too!"

Nagisa's outburst pops their little Haru-Makoto bubble. Haru nonchalantly sits up and reaches for Makoto's lunchbox. Makoto hands it to him readily.

"No." Haru's simple answer, delivered in his usual even tone, has Nagisa pouting childishly. But he bounces back quickly, if the sly smile on his face is any indication.

"Then, Rei-chan—"

"I refuse." Rei pushes his glasses up.

"But Rei-chan—!"

"No."

"Now, now," Makoto interjects. Lunch is almost over and he doesn't really want to be dealing with a sulking Nagisa or a disgruntled Rei for the rest of the day. "Nagisa, leave Rei alone."

He makes sure to say it gently to mollify the blond. It's times like these that he's glad he's had experience from dealing with the twins with how to smooth over arguments without ruffling too many feathers.

"Hai," Nagisa says grudgingly. "Mako-chan is like a Papa sometimes, right, Rei-chan?"

"Eh?"

"So it seems, Nagisa-kun," Rei agrees, obviously relieved that the blond's attention is focused elsewhere.

"Then, if Mako-chan is the Papa, Haru-chan must be the Mama!" Nagisa cries excitedly.

"Oi, don't just decide that by yourself," Haru says around the rice in his mouth. Only Makoto catches the little quirk at the corner of Haru's lips that hint that he isn't entirely opposed to what Nagisa had said.

Nagisa barrels on anyway like he always does.

"Then that means I'm the child," Nagisa continues. "And Rei-chan is the pet!"

"Pet?!"

"Yeah," Nagisa smiles sunnily at Rei. "It fits, don't you think?"

"No, I don't! Why do I have to be the pet?"

"Don't sweat the small details. It's fine, right?"

"It's not fine!"

Makoto just sighs at the pair's antics. The bell rings, signalling the end of lunch. Well, at least he had tried to mediate between those two as best he can.

"Let's go, Haru?"

Haru takes his offered hand. They bid good-bye to the first-years and make their way back to the classroom.

* * *

Just before they enter the classroom, Haru stops. Makoto looks back over his shoulder to see why.

Haru takes his hand and gives it a gentle squeeze before pulling the door open and stepping into the bustling classroom. The contented smile on his face makes Makoto's heart skip a beat.

"Thank you."

Haru's words speak volumes, and Makoto hears all the little things Haru wants him to hear.

But the loudest, the one that all but overpowers all the others is—

_I love you._

* * *

A/N: The poem at the beginning is an English translation of a Japanese poem from here: books .google .co .nz /books?id = QoYnyorPWdgC&pg=PA31&lpg=PA31&ots=yMZg2YhszD&dq7. Just remove the spaces.

De-anon from the kink meme. This was a fill for a prompt about MakoHaru getting 'married' while they were still kids.


End file.
